Tyler McCandless ready to defend title at Pittsburgh Marathon

Tyler McCandless hopes to defend his Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon title Sunday morning.

The Fort Collins, Colo., resident, who covered the 26.2 mile course through several Pittsburgh neighborhoods and downtown streets in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 8 seconds last year to claim gold, hopes to become the first repeat American champion since 1989.

With optimal weather conditions expected — temperatures in the upper 50s with a light rain — McCandless, one of more than 42,000 runners, walkers and cyclists ready to move Sunday, will look to better his all-time best of 2:12:28.

“I’ve run 30 or so marathons in my career, and I’ve won a handful of them, but the opportunity to be fit and able to come back to Pittsburgh and hopefully defend my title is so special,” McCandless said Friday morning at a press conference at David L. Lawrence Convention Center to kick off the Pittsburgh Health and Fitness Expo and the marathon’s many weekend events.

“Pittsburgh always brings a big elite field of runners, so a title defense is not a given on Sunday. It is going to be a great competition, and I am looking forward to it.”

McCandless said the response and support of the many thousands of spectators who line the course for all 26.2 miles gives the Pittsburgh Marathon a special feel.

“How the course is set up and when you come down the straightaway to the finish, you feel the energy of everyone cheering,” he said.

“With being from Pennsylvania and going to Penn State, there are some former teammates living in the Pittsburgh area who will be there. It is fun to hear my name called out in different areas along the course.”

Sunday’s marathon races begin with the handcycle group at 6:50 a.m. at Liberty Avenue and 10th Street followed by the elite runners and others at 7.

The finish line is on the Boulevard of the Allies between Wood and Market streets.

Jennifer Bigham, an Ohio native, Squirrel Hill resident, cross country and track and field coach at Winchester Thurston, and a five-time Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race champion, will make her Pittsburgh full marathon debut.

“As a runner, I know how much it means to have the support of the spectators and to have all of the volunteers who do so much to make this event a success every year. That can really turn someone’s race around,” said Bigham, who won the USA Masters Half Marathon and One Mile Championship in 2022.

“I love being out here in Pittsburgh and hearing the cheers from the crowd.”

Kenyan Wesley Kiptoo hopes to become the first three-time champion of the UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon. He won his second in a row last year by surpassing his own record time with a 1:01:22.

“For me, it means a lot to be back in Pittsburgh,” Kiptoo said.

“I thank the race commissioners and my sponsors for helping me be ready to race. It is like a homecoming for me. I am looking forward to trying to make it a three-peat.”

Marathon racers are competing for a prize purse that stands at more than $102,000. First-place finishers overall for the full marathon, men and women, receive $7,000. The overall half-marathon winners each receive $10,000.

Stephanie Bruce, who resides and trains out of Flagstaff, Ariz., is a fan favorite from her 2019 USA Half Marathon championship in Pittsburgh. She hopes to reclaim victory against some of the fastest women in the sport.

The new mother — Sophia, seventh months, was a hit at Friday’s press conference — is excited to run on the streets of Pittsburgh.

After some time off, she ran the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in February in Orlando, Fla.

“I knew that I was in no position to make the U.S. Olympic Team, but it was sort of a personal mom goal of could I stay healthy, and could I get ready to run a marathon and not compromise my body or any of Sophia’s early months?”

Bruce said she thought back to her 2019 win in Pittsburgh and said time has flown by.

“I was very fortunate and grateful to have pulled off the win at championships, and I just remember the city was full of electricity,” she said.

“The crowds were amazing and so welcoming. To come back here for what I consider one of my first competitive races post-partum is very special.”

North Hills graduate Margo Malone, last year’s women’s full marathon champion in 2:41:56, is expecting at the end of next month and will not defend her title this year.

But she is looking forward to the weekend festivities and will be at the finish line Sunday to celebrate with all of the competitors.

“This is so fun, even walking in this morning (to the press conference) and seeing everyone, the balloons, the decorations and everything else. It brings back so many great memories of past races, especially last year,” she said. “Seeing Jennifer, who is a friend, run Sunday will be fun. I’ve also been helping Team Magee Women’s fundraise throughout, so it’s meaningful to have a connection to maternal health and support the marathon in that way.”

Officials from P3R, the machine behind the Pittsburgh Marathon; city and county government officials, including Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato; and other marathon dignitaries gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the fitness expo and usher in the weekend events.

The marquee events include the Chick-Fil-A Pittsburgh Kids Marathon at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on the North Shore where a record 8,500-plus will be ready to run.

There are participants in town from all 50 states and 24 countries. The youngest who will cross the finish line is 5 months, and the oldest is 87 years young.

“This is my favorite time of the year,” Gainey said. “It is a great way to kick off the summer, to have the marathon right here back in our city. To have something this phenomenal speaks volumes of how we come together as a community. For us to have the goal this year of bringing 42,000 people to the city, all I can do is say thank you.”